Charlie Gibbens and his wife, Jean, celebrate last night in the Clinton Club at Mizzou Arena after Neal E. Boyd was named the winner
of NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” competition.

It turns out "vinceró, vinceró," the final words of the famous tenor aria "Nessun Dorma," are MU alumnus Neal E. Boyd’s magic words.

AP photo

Boyd performs last night after winning the competition. Boyd, an insurance salesman from Sikeston, will receive a $1 million prize and headline a show in Las Vegas featuring other finalists.

Channeling the great opera singer Luciano Pavarotti, Boyd belted the powerful aria for his first audition and during last week’s finals on the NBC reality show "America’s Got Talent." At the time, few knew the promise those lyrics held in store. In Italian, "vinceró" means "I shall win."

Last night, Boyd was pronounced winner of the showthat began eight months ago and featured weekly elimination rounds. After winning the title "America’s top talent," along with $1 million and a chance to headline a show in Las Vegas, Boyd choked back tears to sing the final aria in Giacomo Puccini’s "Turandot" one more time.

To Boyd, "Nessun Dorma" is more than just a vow of victory.

"It’s the reason I got here in the first place," the 32-year-old Sikeston native said yesterday morning by phone on the way to the set in Los Angeles. "It was the reason why I fell in love with opera. … It all starts with a song, and that was, I thought, the most beautiful aria I ever heard, before I even knew what an aria was."

Minutes before 9 p.m. last night, cheers erupted at a watch party at Mizzou Arena for the lovable soloist, known for a voice only slightly more powerful than the emotion accompanying it. Opera, Boyd said during the interview, is a "special thing because people have to feel to understand it."

Boyd’s former voice teacher, MU’s Ann Harrell, watched with her children in Columbia. Michael Boyd, the older brother credited with inspiring Neal Boyd’s love for opera when he dumped a class assignment - to listen to a CD of the Three Tenors and write a report about it - in his lap, watched in Sikeston with old friends. At the Mizzou Arena watch party, thrown by the Arts and Science Alumni Organization in the Clinton Club, dozens of people cheered with triumphant shouts of "M-I-Z - Z-O-U!"

"It’s phenomenal to see somebody do well that’s from here," said former MU basketball Coach Norm Stewart, who attended the watch party. Stewart was sitting next to Charlie Gibbens, who anonymously arranged for Boyd to be fitted with a new tuxedo for a Carnegie Hall performance after Boyd won the 2000 collegiate vocal championship. After Boyd’s name was announced, a beaming Gibbens squeezed his wife Jean’s shoulder. Years ago, the two even had Boyd perform in their home, and he remained standing until well into Boyd’s final, celebratory performance.

"He just grabs at your heartstrings," said Darlene Johnson, who got to know Neal while traveling with the university choir in Italy. Behind her, on 11 television screens, Boyd’s tears were still drying on his cheeks. His voice stood up even against the emotion.

In addition to the $1 million grand prize, Boyd will headline a concert with the top five finalists of "America’s Got Talent" on Oct. 17 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. And after that?

"I’m going to pay for the best training and the best coaches in the world," Boyd said yesterday, eager to improve his technique even further and continue performing.

"I get to share my dream with the world for the rest of my life," he said. "I just proved to the world that opera’s not dead. I just gave it a big old mouth-to-mouth resuscitation."